286 BULLETIN 130, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Hon. K. M. Barnes tells me that young swans, reared by him in con- 

 finement, acquired their full plumage during the second summer or 

 fall, when 14 or 15 months old. I believe that this is usually the case 

 with wild birds, though some traces of immaturity may not dis- 

 appear until some time during the following winter or even spring. 



Food. — The food of the whistling swan is largely vegetable, which 

 it obtains b}^ reaching down with its long neck in shallow water, oc- 

 casionally tipping up with its tail in the air when making an extra 

 long reach. While a flock of swans is feeding in this manner, one or 

 more birds are always on guard watching for approaching dangers, 

 as the feeding birds often keep their heads and necks submerged for 

 long periods. It apparently never dives for its food except in cases 

 of great extremity. In Back Bay, Virginia, and in Currituck Sound, 

 North Carolina, the swans feast on the roots of the wild celery and 

 fox-tail grass; they are now (1916) so numerous that they do con- 

 siderable damage by treading great holes in the mud and by rooting 

 and pulling up the celery and grass ; they thus Avaste large quantities 

 of these valuable duck foods, much more than they consume, and con- 

 sequently spoil some of the best feeding grounds for ducks, much to 

 the disgust of the sportsmen in the vaiious clubs, who are not allowed 

 to shoot the swans and have to submit to this interference with their 

 duck shooting. The swans are really such a nuisance in this par- 

 ticular locality that a reasonable amount of shooting might well be 

 allowed; these birds are so wary that there is little danger of any 

 great number being killed. 



Major Bendire (1875) found in the stomach of a Avhistling swan, 

 shot in Oregon, " about 20 small shells, perhaps half an inch in 

 length, quite a quantity of gravel, and a few small seeds." Mr. 

 Cameron in his Montana notes, says : 



The swans were engaged in feeding upon tlie soft-shelled fresh-water 

 snails which abound in this lake and explain its great attraction for them. 

 During the several days that I watched the swans I never saw them eat 

 anything else, but doubtless they pick up vegetation as well, being accus- 

 tomed to walk about in the grass at the mouth of Alder Creek. Marshy 

 Lake is so shallow (only 2 feet deep over most of it, and 4 feet in the deep- 

 est part) that the long-necked birds can generally reach the moUusca with- 

 out much tilting of their bodies in characteristic swan fashion. 



Dr. F. Henry Yorke (1891) says: "They feed upon corn, and 

 upon tender roots of wheat, rye, and grass, and upon bulbous 

 roots, pushing about for them in the mud at the bottom of lakes 

 and rivers. They also catch and eat tadpoles, frogs, and even 

 fish." Other writers have mentioned, among the food of this 

 species, the roots of the Equisetacae^ Sagittaria^ various grasses, 

 and other succulent water plants, also worms, insects, and shell- 

 fi.-h. 



